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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 1973)
: P mijij a de sever. iPartment, ' Pet am Perhaps a antee % apartment •arate am e used fo, d Purpose, '■tmenthas ire wasn't ;er thin ss wall, tire ed to use c °ver suet ?e of these ecuritydj. void these ^our land, a deposit els’ howdy" is auger yes. lous com. Jsed me of dent stum- ■onishment owdy!” to ‘vely bo* it infinity • to avoid i to on the have been y to each Phey have m of open deship, ' in friend, to several explosive body ac- ling corps ? universi- most any id to grow hetic. But allow’ this ;o the cold our cam- ith enthu- iness. Ev- : initiative irself) and nts rather folks to niber that mny more e spirit of is ’75 Honor Sororities Open to Coeds Abortions Unavailable in Bryan Area In evaluating the campus and its students, the Office of the Dean of Women realized that there was a need to establish some women’s association. There was a choice of either a social or an honor organization. The result was the establishment of Alpha Lambda, CWENS, Cap and Gown and Phi Delta Gamma. The idea behind these groups is to couple scholastic achieve ment with service and leadership. “I feel our honor sororities are run much differently on this cam pus,” Mrs. Pat Self, counselor of women and head advisor for all the groups, said, “This is related time after time when a transfer student remarks, T’m really im pressed. At my last school, we had an annual meeting, maybe.’ ” These groups are actively in volved with the academic disci plines and the Department of Stu dent Services, and serve as an important duty on the campus. The Freshman honor sorority is Alpha Lambda and any girl car rying 12 semester hours and re ceiving a grade point of 3.5 is eli gible for membership. Last year some 140 coeds were initiated and about 150 are anticipated for this year. Initiation, or tapping, is some thing very special. The active members go from class to class during the first part of the spring semester and publicly honor the new members. Another important function of Alpha Lambda is their joint fresh man tutoring sessions with the men’s freshman honorary Phi Eta Sigma. Offered under the name TAMS, it is the only service of its kind offered on the campus. These two groups supply help in freshman level courses with a friendly student-to-student atti tude. During the early part of this year, when new students were ar riving, it was fairly common to see Alpha members at the airport welcoming new Aggies who might have found the environment a lit tle confusing. The girls also helped all summer with orienta tions. Co-advisers for the group are Mrs. Lew Rodenberger, Eng lish Department, and Dr. Hanna Levenson, professor of psychol ogy. The sophomore girl has a chance to become a part of CWENS, a national honor society which chooses its members on aca demic excellence, a desire to be of service, and leadership. Applying at the end of her freshman year, a girl must have a 3.0 average, recommendations and an interview before a com mittee of advisors, club members and selected representatives of a related association. Only a cer tain percentage of the class can be initiated, according to CWENS national charter. This group is extremely active on campus, being involved with Great Issues, the stage party at Commencement, Student Senate, stuffing envelopes for the For mer Students Association, and hosting the first annual back-to- school orientation for new women students. “The faces of the girls showed they were really getting together as a community, that they had a feeling of belonging ness,” Mrs. Self said. Mrs. Mary Jo Hoffman also serves as ad visor with Mrs. Self. About one-third of all senior women are eligible for A&M’s colony of Mortarboard, Cap and Gown. These women are chosen on the same basis as other hon orary societies. These seniors are working closely with the Admin istration, offering suggestions on new programs and policies. This past summer a number of the group helped Dr. Harold Powe, director of the University Hospital, to reorganize the Uni versity filing system and put it on microfilm. They also hosted a reception after each freshman orientation program this summer to offer assistance and to help the girls feel like they belonged on the TAMU campus. Cap and Gown is currently working closely with the Hospital administration to develop a lec ture-slide series dealing with health problems that the student population should know about. Last, but certainly not least, Is the newly organized Phi Delta Gamma, the graduate students’ honor society. It is comprised of graduate student women, staff, and faculty that are engaged or have been engaged in graduate study. The association’s goals are to provide a channel for aware ness among university women and give them opportunity to find out what is occurring in all phases of academics. The first reception was held last Sunday at the Pres ident’s home, with the formal initiation to take place October 20. By STEVE GOBLE You can’t get an abortion in Bryan-College Station unless your life depends on it. Meanwhile, the abortion busi ness in Houston is booming. “We simply don’t have the fa cilities for major surgery,” says Dr. Hal Powe, director of the TAMU health center. “Abortions can involve serious medical prob lems — many people die from abortions. The health center was established to care for the sick and wounded,” Powe added. “No, definitely not,” says Sis ter Mary Patricia, administrator at St. Joseph’s. “We will per form abortions if they are medi cally or surgically indicated in order to save life, but we will never permit elective abortions.” According to Bryan Hospital administrator T. P. Lackey, no abortions have yet been per formed there. He doesn’t rule out the idea, but such a procedure would require the consent of two doctors and the hospital’s sur gery board. He added that abortions at the hospital would be “quite unlikely” until the Texas Legislature sets guidelines for the operations. There are a few ways to avoid problem pregnancies: One is abstention. Another is to use “the pill” or condoms or IUD or any of the other products of the technologi cal vastness of present-day birth control. Kim Peoples, a member of the health committee of Women’s Awareness Workshop here, says people interested in information on birth control, cancer, VD, etc., can get it from WAW either at its MSG office-cubical or during one of its meetings. “I don’t want people asking me how to get abortions when they could have asked me two months The previous Texas abortion law was overthrown by the U. S. Supreme Court last January. The court ruled the state may regu late who performs an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy, which facilities may be used for an abortion during the second three months, and it may regulate abortions during the last three months to protect the health of the individual. Marcy Crowe, administrative director at Cullen, says the cen ter performs abortic^ns for wom en pregnant for less than 12 weeks in three to six hours, under local anesthesia. The Cullen Women’s Center, based in small, private Mercy Hospital near the Astrodome, performs abortions during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Ms. Crowe said the center gives D&C abortions, using a vacuum aspirator, for $145 during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. D&C is also used for the 13th and 14th weeks, but it costs $250 and a scraping technique is used. During weeks 15 through 20, Ms. Crowe said, the center uses an induced miscarriage method, in which the woman gets a salt ago for birth control informa tion,” she says. The University Health Center performs tests for syphillis, gon orrhea and pregnancy for free, and a pap smear (to check for cervical cancer) for $4. “Birth control is easy to get in this town,” says Ms. People. “It may cost some money, but you can get it.” At Skaggs-Albertson’s, Ortho Novum (birth control pills) are $1.49 for a month’s supply. , “Sit down and think about it before you have sex,” Ms. Peo ples says. “Be prepared. It’s like skyjumping — you wouldn’t want to jump out of a plane without a parachute, would you?” water injection and goes through labor. This requires two or three days at the hospital and $400. Only 10 of the salt water-mis carriage abortions are performed per week at the center. Ms. Crowe said she has had to refer Birth control and abortion are becoming a greater cause for con cern among an increasing number of students each year. Planned Parenthood and Family Planning, both in Bryan, are both sources of information and help concern ing such problems. There is also a Woman’s Awareness organiza tion on campus which provides students with any pertinent facts or information on these subjects. The following story is related as dictated by an A&M coed who underwent the traumas of abor tion during the past year.—W. Ed. By KATHY MORGAN “I was confused, scared, and broke,” says Ms. J. “I went to a local gynecologist who confirmed that I was pregnant. It really freaked me out; everyone at his office began congratulating me and telling me how lucky I was. I left that place determined to have an abortion.” “I contacted the Austin Clergy Council. I was afraid to go be cause I figured it would be some sort of sermon on moral behavior. But it wasn’t. The minister I saw was a really nice guy; he gave me my alternatives and we just BS’ed. An abortion in Dallas would have cost about $800, so he gave me the number of Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles and wished me luck.” “I called them and they told me to be in L.A. around 10 a.m. A guy named Paul was to pick me up in the Planned Parenthood van. I was told not to eat any thing for 24 hours prior to the lab tests I would have to take.” “When I flew into L.A., it was foggy and dismal, adding to my nervousness. Paul was about 30 minutes late to pick me up. Wait ing in his van with another girl, I saw Paul coming towards us with 15 more girls. I later found out that . Englewood Hospital, where I went, did about 50-60 abortions a day. I never knew that many girls chose abortion, but it made me feel a little less insecure.” “We drove to the small hospital and had extensive lab work and a number of patients to either New York or California. The out- of-state abortions, plus airplane fare, cost about $100 more, she said. “This is a small hospital,” says Ms. Crowe. “It’s just not big then met with a Planned Parent hood counselor, Marie, who ex plained what we could expect and said not to be afraid. After we had filled out forms and talked a while, we had to have an exam ination by the resident gynecolo gist to see how far along we were. This was the deciding factor as to what type of abortion we were to have.” “If the girl is three months pregnant or under, she can have a D&C in which the fetus is vac uumed out and the patient is ready to go in about 30 minutes. This is done for $150, on an out patient basis. Four months up to six months requires the saline in jection method, the kind I had, which cost $350. The pain and symptoms of this method are al most the same a having a baby.” “About one hour after my in jection, I had severe contractions and could not sleep. The next day I went into labor and continued for 10 hours straight. Finally, I knew that I was ready to expel the fetus and this great surge of enough to handle everybody — about 400 a month.” Evidently, the Houston opera tion has become a center for abor tions — Ms. Crowe says 25 to 30 per cent of the hospital’s pa tients are from out-of-town. relief flooded over me. About 8 a.m. I went into surgery to have the placenta removed since it wouldn’t come out with the rest of the fetus, but I was under anesthesia by then.” “All the girls that bad the sa line method, except me, were in and out within a day or so. I had complications and stayed S 1 /^ days.” “They made reservations on the 7 p.m. flight for me that night after making sure that I was com pletely recovered. I really don’t see how a person can ever recover from something like that.” “The money for my abortion was borrowed from my best friend who was kind and generous enough to help me out. I am still working hard to pay her back,” finished Ms. J. “The A&M student who was equally responsible for the preg nancy was also of great comfort to me; he said, ‘I’d help you if I could, J. But I’ve got to make car payments, you know,’ ” she added. Hospital Gynecologist Leaves Position IT’S HERE - AT LAST FOR THE SPORTS CAR &, SMALL SEDAN ENTHUSIAST PIT STOP ENTERPRISES • Sports Car Sales • Parts • Accessories 10 to 20% Discount On Parts & Accessories Register For Free Spoiler, Car Cover Or Driving Lights, Drawing Sept. 29, 1973 Mike Bozardt '61, Owner 215 University Dr. — Next To Campus Theatre Open 12-6 p. m. Mon.-Fri.; 8:30-5 Sat. \ • RETREAT | C^oed S CScimpud § Wednesday, September 19, 1973 College Station, Texas Page 3 :i : .: Birth Control Facts Presented ★ ★★ ★★★ ★★★ Coed Undergoes Abortion 1974 AGGIELAND Class Picture Schedule FRESHMEN A-M Sept. 10-14 N-S Sept. 17-21 T-Z Sept. 24-28 Pictures will be taken from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. At UNIVERSITY STUDIO 115 N. Main (Bring fee slips) North Gate Aggies will no longer be able to see a gynecologist at the Uni versity Health Center. Dr. Robert H. Benbow, univer sity gynecologist last year, says he will no longer go to the uni versity to see patients. He had been coming to the health center two mornings a week. Dr. Hal Powe, health center director, said Tuesday that Dr. Benbow will remain a consultant to the center; students will be able to see him in his office for free. “I didn’t have the time,” Dr. Benbow said, explaining that his university duties interferred with his private practice. Women’s Awareness Workshop co-chairpersons Judi Wooten and Jill Parker expressed disappoint- Tuesday nights after 5:00 the featured dish is chicken ’n dumplin’s. You get a pot of juicy chicken, plenty of plump, fluffy dumplin’s and generous slabs of homemade cornbread for soppin’. Barbecue nearly made the Conlee boys famous in these parts. And they’re caterin’ now, too. 3C BAH-B-QUE Open 11 to 9:30 every day except Monday across the tracks/nearly downtown Bryan ment with Dr. Benbow’s decision. “This is a shame, especially since the health center fee is com pulsory,” said Ms. Parker. Dean of Women Toby Schrei- ber said she was also disap pointed with Dr. Benbow’s deci sion, but added, “We are indebted to Dr. Benbow — he is a reliable and competent physician who has given us a great deal of his time with very little renumeration.” Academy Enrolls First Woman The Texas Maritime Academy has enrolled its first woman, Su san Jean (Sudi) Carter, who al ready has her sea legs. Miss Carter, formerly of Dal las, has served as a crew member aboard a racing yacht since 1970 and logged more than 400 days at sea in all kinds of weather. She joins the TMA ranks as a sophomore, having previously at tended John Brown University at Siloam, Arkansas, and the Uni versity of Southern Mississippi at Biloxi. “The other students seem to ac cept me,” she added, “but they continue to ask why I’m here.” The answer to that question is that she hopes to sign on as a navigator aboard a commercial vessel after graduation. She is majoring in marine transporta tion. Read Battalion Classifieds UNIVERSITY TRAVEL PEANUTS By Charles M Schnlz ' HOld COME Wu NEVse TEASE ME ? P